What they said: Phil Mickelson

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Q. Obviously not the finish that you were looking for, but Freddie called those conditions just brutal out there. Would you agree with that?

PHIL MICKELSON: It was a tough day today. But some guys shot under par, some guys played some great rounds. Sergio shot under par and played a great round, and Paul hung tough, played a great round. It was out there. You could still score, even as tough as it was. You could still make some birdies.

Q. What would the key have been, particularly for you, to get it under par or around even?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it would have taken a really good round. Jeff Quinney almost did it for 2-under. He almost got in there. But it would have taken a really good round. I didn't get off to a great start today, so I was fighting.

Q. You made that putt on 9, though, and you looked -- probably felt like you were back in it?

PHIL MICKELSON: I thought if I had a good back side I might have a chance. I thought some players might come back a little more than they did. I ended up missing a short birdie putt on 11 that kind of took a lot of momentum out of me because that would have given me a bit of a boost, got me to 1-under for the tournament. Unfortunately it didn't get any better from there.

Q. How drained were you and how much of that had to do with just playing or mentally or your sickness this week?

PHIL MICKELSON: I think that you start feeling pretty good when putts go in. You start getting a bit more energy, but that didn't quite happen. I struggled a little bit on the greens today, and it seemed to take energy, too.

Q. Will you settle on a putter, one of those two?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not sure, we'll see. I don't know. I've got a week off.